Sunday, January 28, 2007

For all those who were wondering, I AM making a print issue of WAH3, which I want out by the end of February. I'm also in the final year of my degree, which is mad hectic, so be patient! But to all those who want to contribute, please send in what you got.

But for all those who wanna throw their two cents to WAH3 in, i want you to tell me WHO DO YOU LOVE? Email me a woman you love, from music, art, film whatever, she can be dead or alive, but just tell me who you love, what she did and why you love her. If you can send in a picture too that would be great. And I'm sure Kelis is heroine to many of you out there, but lets try and find the obscure women who are often ignored.

My friend Ashley told me about a woman called Judee Sill, an American singer/songwriter from the 70s who I now listen to everyday. It doesn't have to be hip hop! Send your fave women in, whoever they may be...

I think my first woman I love would be...Cleopatra...she is dope....I look forward to hearing yours...

Kelis's outfit is OFF THE SCALE in this new vid for Lil Star. This song is ok. Not the best on the album. There ain't that many bangers on the album i know but i am LOVING this outfit. But why only one Kelis? Budget cuts!?

Friday, January 26, 2007

There is a really interesting article in todays Guardian newspaper about the word "bitch" i've copied and pasted below. Please get the paper though as there are really good pictures to accompany it!

"Who are you calling a bitch?

It's an insult often thrown at women who are strong, ambitious and outspoken. We'll take that as a compliment then, says Kate Figes

Friday January 26, 2007The Guardian

Far more unites men and women than divides us, but when it comes to negative stereotypes, women win hands down. Girls are "bossy" and grow into women who "nag", while boys of all ages are "authoritative" and "natural-born leaders". When men go out for a drink together it is considered positive social interaction or "networking"; when women get together they "gossip". But the stereotype that many women hate the most is "bitch". Men bitch too, of course, only in their case it is dubbed Machiavellian (with a palpable hint of respect) or they are hailed for their acerbic wit. As the actor Bette Davis once said: "When a man gives his opinion, he's a man; when a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch."

For centuries, the straight definition of the word bitch was simply a sexually promiscuous woman. Then, as women became more powerful throughout the 20th century, the definition expanded to include being duplicitous. Now men tend to call women bitches when they do not get what they want from them. So, if a woman turns a man down for a date, she is a bitch. If she climbs the career ladder faster than him, she is a bitch. If she becomes his boss and turns down one of his ideas, she is - you guessed it - a bitch.

Current slang associations underline the fact that, for some, the idea of being called a bitch is just as derogatory as ever. Bikers "ride bitch" (pillion), but only when their own bike is unavailable, of course. Among heroin users, the major artery for injection is known as "your bitch", hence the Prodigy's most famous track Smack My Bitch Up. That small, unattractive tuft of hair that some men like to grow beneath their lower lip is also known as a bitch, presumably because of its vague resemblance to female genitalia.

Given all its negative connotations, it is not surprising that women fear being called a bitch. In fact, though, it is something that we should embrace. Why? The US feminist magazine BITCH explains it like this on its website: "When it's being used as an insult, bitch is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and do not shy away from expressing them and who do not sit by and smile uncomfortably if they are bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we will take that as a compliment, thanks."

The website Heartless Bitches International agrees, announcing on its homepage that Bitch means Being In Total Control Honey. It is a sign of strength in a woman and of honesty.

After all, look at some of the women who get called bitches. Michiko Kakutani, the famously ferocious book critic on the New York Times, has been accused by the male literary establishment of being "weird", and a "feminist" who deliberately trashes the likes of Norman Mailer simply because he is male. You can almost read the word bitch between the lines, can't you? But Kakutani is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who is dedicated to literature. Her reviews are honest appraisals of each book rather than sycophantic hero-worship of incredibly well-known authors, which we tend to get this side of the Atlantic. It is hard to believe Kakutani would suffer the same sort of criticism for giving her opinion if she were a man.

Bitching thrills because it flouts manners and speaks the truth. Feminists such as Germaine Greer and Julie Burchill excel at the art because they dare to say what they really think of other people, even when that offends. Then there is Joan Rivers, one of the funniest women alive, who has made her name savaging other famous women, usually over their appearance. What she says she hates is the dishonesty, the pretence, that they have had no cosmetic surgery. And what could be seen as cruelty is mitigated by her own self-deprecation: "I wish I had a twin so that I could know what I looked like without plastic surgery. My best birth control now is to leave the lights on."

Many of us are still so constrained by conventional stereotypes of how women should be - selfless, kind, enabling of others, calm and supportive - the good girl essentially, that the real girl inside gets denied. We take insults on the chin and say nothing. We find it hard to compete or ask for that pay rise because we are not sure we deserve it. We are not supposed to shout or get angry about all the inequities we face as women. We become the bitch, the bad girl, when we want more, when we are not prepared to make do with what we have and when being heard is more important than being liked. That is a liberating feeling. If we fear being labelled as a bitch, we still seek validation from men on their terms rather than ours.

Of course, there is a huge difference between the "strong" bitch I am writing about, the woman who happily flouts conventional female stereotypes, and the "weak" bitch whose persona proceeds from vulnerability and who manipulates others to make herself feel stronger. Teenage girls bitch to bond when they feel vulnerable, and bitching to bully is rife in our schools. This is rarely detected because it can be very subtle, but when women bitch from a position of sheer envy and vulnerability it can have devastating effects - as we saw in the Big Brother house last week. Our culture is full of this kind of weak bitching, and girls have little guidance as to how to move from that ugly, bad-bitch stereotype to being a strong, good bitch who stands up to the world with courage.

Bitching can be clever, with far more wit and irony than sarcasm. It is also more subtle than the blunt instrument of insult. Joan Crawford once boasted that her first husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, had introduced her to the great plays, while her second husband, Franchot Tone, had taught her what they meant, along with "words like 'metaphor' and 'transference'". Jean Harlow's response when she heard this was, "And she taught him words like 'jump' and 'fuck'."

A good bitch with someone you trust can be cathartic when life as a woman gets you down. It is better for your health than Prozac and cheaper than therapy. Few things are more interesting than other people - talking about them behind their backs is often illuminating as well as entertaining. We bitch to bond for support and when we spar as equals it can be incredibly funny. For instance, broadcasters Gill Pyrah and Susan Marling have been friends for years. At the height of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust era, Pyrah was the proud owner of an all-in-one light blue space suit with metallic lining. When Marling saw it she said, "Lovely. And you're oven-ready."

Think of all the fantastic bitches that have gone before us - from Jane Austen, Margot Asquith and Eleanor Roosevelt to the extraordinary verbal rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Lauren Bacall and Greta Garbo were all strong, inspiring women who fired off as many great lines off-screen as on. "Why am I so good at playing bitches? I think it's because I'm not a bitch," said Bette Davis, warming up for the perfect punchline. "Maybe that's why Miss Crawford always plays ladies."

Life would be extremely dull without these women or the characters they created, Davis as veteran movie bitch Margo Channing in All About Eve, or Crawford as Crystal in The Women. In literature, there are Emma, the Bingley Sisters and Becky Sharp, female characters who thrill us because they dare to present women as they really are: clever, calculating and verbally dexterous. A healthy malevolence lurks beneath the good girl facade. Take Mae West, for instance, who wrote most of her own material, as well as being a sex symbol. In her list of 15 "Things I'll Never Do" (which includes cook, bake, sew or take another woman's man), number seven says it all - "Play mother parts, sad parts, dumb parts or a virtuous wife, betrayed or otherwise. I pity weak women, good or bad, but I can't like them. A woman should be strong either in her goodness or badness."

In an ideal, ungendered world, everybody would be nicer to each other. All women are human, with a wide range of strengths and weaknesses, just like men. We are just as competitive and ambitious, we get just as angry but we are not supposed to show it. Girls still grow up squeezing themselves into stereotypical "good" girl notions of femininity (and their feet into uncomfortably high-heeled shoes) and when we are not aware of how fettered we are by these stereotypes we veer towards being the kind of weak bitches who put other women down simply to make ourselves feel better. But there is a much stronger bitch inside each one of us just bursting to get out. As Madonna once said, "I'm tough, ambitious and I know what I want. If that makes me a bitch, OK." Real women are loud, brave, outspoken, astute and funny, as well as kind, loving and supportive. So let her out girls, for "life's a bitch and then you die". You might as well get what you want from it while you can.

· The Big Fat Bitch Book by Kate Figes is published by Virago at £9.99. To order a copy for £9.99 with free UK p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0870 836 0875."

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Oh dear lord!! Is SNOWING in London!!!! i love snow sooo much!!! I always eat snow. (not the yellow snow obviously) and because it doesn't snow all year round i have to scrape the freezer for frost with a spoon which is the closest i get to snow...I'm very happy. Now i'm gonna out on my fur coat and boots and play the Ice Queen on the marshes...Check the view from my balcony...

On a second note, I was so excited about the snow I jumped outta bed and scratched my tummy with content, like a cat would, and scratched my tattoos. I was in fucking AGONY for ten minutes. I had to lay down and let the pain subside. They gone a bit crusty now because i'm too wuss too scrub em clean. I'm sure all the dead skin will just fall off when its good and ready no?

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I have to put this video up because aside from it being a sick tune, that takes me back to the days when I was too young to go out and had to be contented with watching MTV Yo Raps while my older cousin was bubblin in Moschino, the remix has an perfect verse on by uncredited Notorious B.I.G. Look out for the 12" remixes...and check the dancers!!

Thanks to Mama Clothing who sent me this cool New Era hat. Its too small though so my little sis is gonna have the pleasure of wearing it. The lining is sick too!! If it fit me, I would be wearing it inside out...

Last week, we all decamped to Barcelona for the Bread and Butter show (except Welsh Jenny she had to work booo!) The trip was soooo much fun! It was my first ever plane ride!! Haha!! It was pretty exciting. I remember thinking oooohhhh "This is the fastest i'm ever gonna go ON EARTH!" especially now that the Concordes done with! I got a window seat and it was really strane to be swooping over the land like that, unfortunately it was dark there and back when I flew so I only saw lots of blinkering lights...

Yes i AM wearing a fur coat, it was cooold, and my hair is a mess...

Due to the lack of food onboard, Elle decided to eat Jennifer!

So then we arrived, and we found out Grace missed her flight!!! I was fucked!! I was meant to be staying with Grace so then I had to stay with Elle and Jennifer, we pushed the beds together but i kept falling down the gap in the middle. I consoled myself by getting drunk in a local bar...

The next day we went to BBB and it was muchos fun. The whole place was fucking boiling hot and there were so many Eurotrash people there it was a joke. Me and Elle caused much excitement with our matching yellow trousers. Everyone was in a good mood, we looked fresh and we were on our way...

The cheesiness of some of the exhibitors was unreal...we couldn;t resist posing with Nelly...

sexy bitches...

more sexy bitches...

However there were loadsa cool stands in one corner surrounding the *untitled stand. A jewellery designer called Hoon who I had seen before on the excellent Cliquenmove check the archives for full interview with the Hoon designer.

ewwwww, i've just noticed my fingers look like ALIENS in this pic! My hands are really nice, I like em! However i'm not gonan be vain and delete it because I wanna show you this guys jewellery. The one on the left is a two finger train car in silver. Dopeness!!! In the same area was Jeff Staple, Addict, Pointer shoes, Barnzely's Special Needs and lots of other good stuff. We peeped the skate section (lots more good womens stuff coming from Vans) and the New Era section, which had the SICKEST HATS!! OH MY DAYS, I need more hats!!!

Then we found the most HILARIOUS STALL!!! - THE NEW NEGRO!!!! Now i've only been to Spain before when I was 14 to play football and I didn't especially notice any racism, but there were shitloads here!! I don't know if its just the location (its closer to Africa than most Euro countries so probably had more reason to begrudge em) but there were so many racist things that literally made me laugh because I couldn't believe the absurdity of it! We found some blackface sweets, a book called "Black Ladies" and tons of crusty ugly African prostitutes that we nearly had a fight with (more down below) they were proper like second class citizens. It was all pretty surreal.

Blackface sweets

Lemme get back to THE NEW NEGRO. We were lauging our heads off and taking lots of pics outside this stall. I was just cracking up at it. Then the owner sees us and exclaims "AH!! YOU ARE A REAL NEGRO!!" oh my daysssssss, I could not stop laughing. Was this FOR REAL?! I'm not especially pro-black or anything. I grew up in mixed cultures and never ever thought one race was better than another. And I have been extremely fortunate in that i've never really experienced direct racism. However this was just too much. I was not offended. I don't offend easily, I just couldnt stop laughing. Clearly the guy loved black people, you shoulda seen the way he was dressed, but he probably didn't realise that his label might be offensive. Also, I think he was Italian, so it was more than likely a language thing. But surely you would know that an international market might not respond so well? And anyway, whats wrong with the old Negro?!

The day was pretty exhausting and when we got home I was happy to hear that Grace at the Crooked Tongues posse had arrived. I packed my bag and went to our apartment which was dooooope! Huge and airy and right off La Rambla (imagine Oxford St). Elle and Jennifer were gonna come but due to confusion and phones not working, it was too much hassle, but they were literally only round the corner so it was alll good in the Spanish hood. We got ourselves ready to go out to the Vice party, which was incidentally were I got drunk the night before. It was tons of fun and I bumped into a dude I met last year in Paris for Graces birthday, which was nice. In fact, the place felt just like London! Jammer was performing, Sinden was Djing, there was crunk n grime n hip hop and all the same fucking people from London was there!! Everyone got drunk and it was muchos funos.

The next day we were joined in the apartment by Nash (MHI) and Seb (Nike SB) and Will (Loki) so it was getting more lively in the place. We all went out again to the Dave White/Nike exhibition and party, which was great! We all met Futura, he was loving me and Grace. He is one of the politest, nicest people I have met. so friendly and sociable.

I also saw Mode2 outside Trust Nobody, a dope skate and sneaker store. Trust Nobody was round the corner from our place and wa the spot to hang out in if anyone got lost of anything. The boys who work in there are really cool and friendly and its a must stop if you are ever passing through. Plus, the owner of the store, Ricky, has a few other spots of equal mention. ask them where they are!

Me and my bodyguard Charlie outside Trust Nobody

The second night was a bit of a blur because I was so tired, i kept having to take naps...or should i say siestas....during the day. But basically we went to Nike party, tried to get into the second Vice party, but it was too rammed, ran into Scottie (Mike) and the Trust Nobody boys at 2am, got into a fight with some prostitutes who stole some furry handcuffs outta Seb's pocket, then had a party back at ours where two random Spanish girls showed up and sat in a corner.

I didnt take a camera so all these pics are other peoples an I'm still waitin for more, but the next day I went to Bread and Butter again with the CT crew, Will, Nash and amazing American tattooists BJ Betts and Bert Krak. again it was boiling hot and I couldn't take much more. Ivan from Nike SB Spain gave us a lift home. He was such a smooth gangsta! Lovely guy, and I was well grateful cuz my feet were hurting. Nash was taking forever chatting to everyone but eventually we made our way home.

after another nap we all went for dinner....

Nash was ruining all my photos...

and then I GOT A FUCKING TATTOO....Oh dear lord, it was the most painfuL, PAINFUL thing I have ever done. this was a trip of "firsts" indeed. Bert Krak, who specialises in classic American designs was so nice and patient with me, the sweetest guy ever. Everyone was in the room watching, which i didn't mind, they were all my friends, and Grace had to hold me hand because the pain was too much. I was screaming! 3/4s of the way through Bert went to have a cigarette, and I think my body thought it was over because when he went back and did that last bit I started bawling my eyes out like a baby!!! I was crying so much. I was trying really hard not to cry but I have awfully tender skin, especially down by my stomach. I was wailing and it was shameful, but just like a kid who has a tooth out, when i looked in the mirror, i was sooo pleased. They are fucking beautiful and just what i wanted! THANKS BERT XXXX

I felt like I had just had a baby! my stomach is killing me! no pain, no gain...

The next day was boiling hot. I went to the beach and saw the fishes, and I went to Gaudi Park which was amazing!!

Then homeward bound. The whole trip was so much fun. I met so many people, got my business stuff sorted, and saw some amazing places. Can't wait til summer....

For more pictures and news, go see Charlie and Garys superb post at Crooked Tongues

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Vans are smashing it for the ladies at the moment. I’ve always loved Van’s solely on of the appealing aesthetics of their shoes. They look great on, whether it’s the Era’s, Authentic’s, Half Cab’s or Chukka’s and for some reason they just make you look, well…sensible. Over the last few months they have blessed us with a fair few beauties, and this recent collab designed by Liora Manne for Classic kicks is great! It’s nice to see they’re allowing the ladies to get a look in, and what’s great about theses is that you can immediately see that her shoe design is coherent with her art and textiles designs, it’s not trying to be a cool shoe!!!

The other two pairs of Era’s I purchased last month are still available at Nordstrom.com.

So I’ve been of road for a while, hibernating. It’s winter man. Been working hard, got so much fucking work to do! Doing this 20 minute doc on the importance of music, and there just not enough time, too much choice I suppose. It’s going pretty well, will screen it somewhere once it’s done.

Anyway, Yuri's having a party tonight, he's been too busy to promote it so no one knows it's even happening. If your free come down and have a few drinks, it's probably gonna be free! Would be good to catch up, cos after this it's back to the den 'til Bread and Butter.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I'm very very Jealous of Sharma's post below, but it's quite coincidental that today i learnt the dude she's in love with from Supreme LA is called JAVE....at least she'll be on first name bases with him so she can get swerve on in the lovely city....

Sooooo, I have never been on a plane EVER! I have been to Paris loads for work, but that was on the Eurostar, and i have been to Spain to play football when i was 14 but we took a ferry and a coach across France...but now i am going on a plane TWICE this month!!! Next week Tuesday me and my girls are gonna hit Bread and Butter Barcelona!!! They ain't ready for us, i'm sure of it...Say hi if you see me there...Then on the 31st January - 7th February...I am going to LA!!!! Woop wooop!!! Los Angeles here i come!! I am soooo ecxcited!! I dont know many people there so if anyone lives on LA and wants to take me out email me! shar@wah-magazine.com.

THINGS I WANNA DO IN LA...

1 - GET MY NAILS DONE2 - DANCE MY ASS OFF TO SOME HIP HOP3 - SEE SOME HOT BOYS4 - GO TO THE THRIFT STORES AND ROSEBOWL MARKET5 - TASTE SOME AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD6 - SEE A BASEBALL GAME7 - TRY AND SEE THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN8 - BE ON THE AUDIENCE FOR A CRAPPY TALK SHOW9 - TO TO MANNS CHINESE THEATRE, CHEESY I KNOW...10 - SEE SOME REAL LIVE CHEERLEADERS

Oh my daysss!! When this song came out it was legendary. Everyone knows this song. I got doo doo plaits and wore my grandads checked shirts because of this song. I tried to get my cousins to sing a three part harmony answerphone message because of this song! ENJOY! XXX

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The lovely James Suckling and his equally lovely girlfriend Lauren found this record in a market for me!!! OMG!! HOW COOL IS THIS!! The type is great, its got an exclamation mark and its in NEON GREEN! and there is even a WAH manifesto inside, which i'm gonna use on WAH3. I haven't listened to it yet but the design is good enough for me! THANKS SO MUCH GUYS! LOVE YOU!! XXX